The Best Criteo Alternatives for Web Publishers

You’ve probably heard of Criteo, but have you heard of any of these alternatives? A surprising number of alternatives to Criteo exist in the advertising space, each with its own set of strengths and weaknesses. In this article, we’ll help you identify some important criteria to consider when choosing which alternative to Criteo best fits your needs.

What is Criteo

Criteo is a digital advertising technology company that connects advertisers to publisher websites. It's a software and services company that helps websites monetize their ad inventory. It provides pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, which lets you bid on keywords and have your ads appear at the top of Google's search results. It provides other services like web analytics, optimization, and fraud prevention. You can create campaigns that target users who are most likely to convert, and then run those campaigns across all of your Criteo properties at once.

Criteo publishers appreciate this ad network because of its benefits. This network sees its mission as an “open” web – by providing access to data analysis, creating innovative tools that connect retailers and publishers, Criteo continues to change the advertising world through technology.

What are the top 5 Criteo alternatives?

• Alternative 1 - Ezoic, the best choice for any AdSense approved websites
  
• Alternative 2 - Monetag, the best choice for starter websites
  
• Alternative 3 - AdSterra, best to monetize adult content
  
• Alternative 4 - EvaDav, best to monetize Asian traffic
  
• Alternative 5 - Hilltop Ads, best to monetize any niche and get paid in Bitcoin
  
• Alternative 6 – AdMaven, best for mobile app monetization
  

Alternative 1 - Ezoic, the best choice for any AdSense approved websites

Ezoic is an advertising platform that helps businesses monetize websites and videos (read our full Ezoic review). It provides a suite of tools that help you manage and optimize ads displayed on your properties, optimize your website speed or SEO, analyze the performance of your ad earnings, and many more. Ezoic's advanced analytics tools enable you to analyze your data in real-time so that you can make quick decisions about what content earns most.

Ezoic Pros and Cons

• Advertising: You can choose from our wide range of display ad formats (banner ads, rich media banners, video banners) and insert them directly into your website or app without any additional coding required. The best part? You can choose which type of ad will appear on top or underneath each page or app screen!
• Affiliate Marketing: When users click on banner ads or other types of ads on Ezoic's network, they'll be taken directly to a page where they can sign up for affiliate programs like Amazon and iTunes gift cards. This means that you'll earn a commission every time someone signs up through one of these.
• Ezoic is free. It costs no money to get started and you will quickly earn money based on your page views.
• Ezoic is available to all Web publishers. You can just submit your site to Ezoic at a time you have some traffic.
• There are many options when it comes to design and customization options, so if you want something unique or different than you can enter these specifications in your displayed ad management settings.
• Ezoic provides credit cards such as Payoneer as an option for payment, along with wire transfers in US and PayPal globally.

• Ezoic has so many amazing free features, you'll never look back!

Ezoic Rating: 5 STAR RATING

Alternative 2 - Monetag, the best choice for starter websites

Monetag provides an easy-to-use interface for Web publishers and advertisers to work together (read our full Monetag review). It provides the tools to create an ad campaign out of thin air, which means there's no need for any coding knowledge or technical skills. This makes it accessible even for newbies who want to monetize their websites without getting into any technical stuff.

Monetag Pros and Cons:

• Monetag is easy to use, and you don't have to be a developer to use it.
• You can add your custom ads, or you can use the generic templates that come with the software.
• You can publish your ads on multiple sites at once! You don't have to worry about managing each site individually.

• The first and most obvious con is that you are locked into Monetag' system. You cannot change the ad code, or add your ads to it. You also cannot change the look and feel of your website, or even make any changes to a specific page on your site.
• The second con is that you have no control over your data. You cannot use Google Analytics for example, or even AdWords for that matter.
• Thirdly, there is a lot of stress put on publishers when it comes to making sure everything works properly. If something goes wrong with your account, or if you have an issue with the site itself (Like a bad ad or broken links), you have nobody but yourselves to blame!
• And finally the fourth con: there is no way out if things go wrong! The only way out is by paying them money – which will not help your business at all!

Monetag Rating - 3.5 STAR RATING

Alternative 3 - AdSterra, best to monetize adult content

Adsterra is a marketplace that connects publishers and advertisers (check our full AdSterra review). Publishers post their ads in the marketplace, and advertisers purchase them. AdSterra's technology helps both sides optimize the cost of their campaigns, so they can make more money.

AdSterra Pros and Cons:

• Flexible targeting: You can target users based on their interests or demographics, which allows you to reach the right audience at the right time.
• Easy integration: It integrates with popular third-party tools like Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, so you can track your performance in real-time and optimize your site further.
• Automatic optimization: The platform automatically optimizes your website so that it loads faster and responds more quickly to user behavior. This means that users will have a more enjoyable experience when visiting your site.

• The customer support team is not available 24/7. You can contact them via email and phone, but they're not on call to respond to every question in real-time.
• AdSterra does not provide an email address for you to use for yourself or your affiliate program you'll have to create one with them if you want it to be publicly visible.
• There's no way to completely control how much money goes out from your account daily (though you can choose the frequency at which payments are made).
• There is no guarantee that the ads you get from AdSterra will be any better than what you could find elsewhere. If you're not willing to pay for a premium package and can't afford to sustainably run ads through  AdSterra,   then this might not be worth your money.
• AdSterra also only works with one publisher at a time; if you want to run more ads on your site, then you'll need to switch over to another company.

AdSterra Rating - 3.0 STAR RATING

Alternative 4 - EvaDav, best to monetize Asian traffic

EvaDav is the best Criteo alternative for web publishers to monetize their websites because they offer a comprehensive solution that provides easy-to-use tools for web publishers to manage ad campaigns, track performance metrics, and more (read our full EvaDav review).

Their platform offers a wide range of features that make it easier for publishers to make money from their websites without having to worry about anything besides what they do best: creating content for their audience. EvaDav is a fully integrated advertising technology platform that allows you to monetize your website. It allows you to create your custom ads, enable pay-per-click, and even enable retargeting ads.

If you're looking for a Criteo alternative that's built on top of Google's AdSense ad serving platform, then EvaDav is your best bet. They've worked hard over the years to make sure that their platform is as robust as possible so that web publishers can focus on what matters most: creating compelling content that gets people reading your blog posts or visiting your website.

EvaDav Pros and Cons:

• It's a fully integrated advertising technology platform that allows you to monetize your website.
• You can easily manage all aspects of your campaign.
• The ability to create branded landing pages quickly with ease

• EvaDav is not a competitor of Facebook.
• The content from the social media platform has to be manually uploaded, which takes time and effort.
• EvaDav is more expensive than Facebook because it charges per user per month.
• It's not secure: The database is not encrypted and it's accessible to everyone on the internet.
• It's a closed system: There is no way to add new features or integrate with other tools.
• You can't customize it: There are only two templates available for the front-end and the back-end.

EvaDav Rating - 4.0 STAR RATING

Alternative 5 - Hilltop Ads, best to monetize any niche and get paid in Bitcoin

Hilltop Ads is a digital advertising platform that helps you  monetize your website   and generate more revenue (read our full EvaDav review). It's a service that allows users to create, optimize and monetize their websites without having to use code. The platform has a simple interface that allows users to publish ads on their website directly from the dashboard. Users can also manage multiple accounts at once with one login.

Hilltop Ads is a great alternative to Criteo because it has a much broader range of targeting options, which means you can reach more people with your ads. The company claims that it can reach 2 billion users on mobile devices and hundreds of millions of users on desktop computers and laptops.

EvaDav Pros and Cons:

Hilltop Ads is a very good company, but there are a few things that should be considered before choosing to work with them. Here are the cons of Hilltop Ads:

• Manage multiple accounts in one dashboard.
• Can create banner ads or pop-up windows.
• Can monetize via pay-per-click (CPC) or cost per mille (CPM) models.
• You can choose between several different types of ads: text ads, image ads, video ads, and banners.

• The ads on their website are not very good quality. They are too simple and do not stand out from other websites.
• Hilltop Ads does not have a mobile app, so you will need to use another platform like Google Maps or Waze if you want to view their ads on your phone.
• The price is extremely high for what you get in return, especially for small businesses who don't want to spend much money on advertising because they know how hard it is to get new customers without spending much money at all!
• Another downside of this platform is that it's not mobile optimized. This means that your ads can't be viewed on mobile devices or tablets unless they're running through an app like Google Chrome or Safari on iOS devices.

EvaDav Rating - 4.0 STAR RATING

Alternative 6 – AdMaven, best for mobile app monetization

AdMaven is a digital marketing company that gives an expansive of services, including PPC management, display advertising, and social media management (read our full AdMaven review). AdMaven is a company that helps you  monetize your website   with video ads. They have a network of more than 26,000 websites and more than 10 million visitors per month. They are the first choice for many Web publishers who want to monetize their websites.

AdMaven Pros and Cons:

• AdMaven has a lot of features that aren't available on other ad platforms like Facebook or Google Adwords.
• AdMaven doesn't just let you place ads on your website they let you sell digital goods like ebooks and courses!
• AdMaven has many ways for you to target different types of audiences based on their interests and demographics (which means more money for you!).

• Advertising is expensive.
• High CPC
• Slow App Install Times.
• Limited Inventory.
• Spamming and Phishing.
• Not many ad options.
• Limited audience reach.
• Not user-friendly for new users.

AdMaven Rating - 4.0 STAR RATING

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do Criteo publishers use this company?

Publishers love that the company provides pay-per-click (PPC) ads that allow you to bid on keywords and have your ads appear at the top of Google search results.

What is the best Criteo competitor for beginner publishers?

PropellerAds is the best choice for website starters. It provides the tools to create an ad campaign out of thin air, which means there is no need for any coding knowledge or technical skills. This makes it accessible even to beginners who want to monetize their sites without getting into technical details.

What are the top alternatives to Criteo for web publishers, particularly in terms of ad targeting and revenue optimization?

Top alternatives include Google AdSense for its wide reach and variety of ad formats, Media.net for contextual ad targeting, Ezoic for AI-driven ad optimization, AdRoll for retargeting and multi-channel advertising, and Taboola for content recommendation ads. Each offers unique strengths in targeting technology, user experience, and revenue potential.